Week 12 - Baltimore, MA (Charm City)

Hello Family and Friends,

We have officially left the DMV. We spent 6 weeks in Brett's favorite place in the world and are now moving on to where everything is just worse, because it is not the DMV. Upon first arriving in Baltimore and checking into our hotel on the Inner harbour, I instantly felt that this was a more black area. Washington, DC may be called "Chocolate City", but it no longer gives that feeling. While checking into our hotel, we just saw more black people than we did in DC. While eating at the hotel restaurant, we met a local young mom who had a son who was 7 years old. In speaking with her about the city she kept repeating the sentiment that Baltimore is great, but it has it's problems. I then began to read about nicknames for Baltimore and came upon an article questioning whether Baltimore is still "Charm City". In the article, I'll put the link below, it mentioned that charm can be a double edge sword. The article quoted one local business owner saying the following, “There are wonderful things happening here, and there are awful things happening here, too. But this is Baltimore: on any given day, it will hug you, or punch you in the gut.” Seems like a place with multiple layers and I'm excited to explore.

https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/community/are-we-still-charm-city-exploring-baltimore-nickname/ (link to article about whether Baltimore remains "Charm City")

A picture of Baltimore located in the hotel lobby.

Atlas did find a friend right away at the hotel. It was a young boy who looked to be about 6 years old. He and Atlas ran into each other in the lobby and just started to play chase (more like Atlas chasing him). Atlas just followed this little boy around and did whatever he did. Everything from playing drums on the floor, to peeking through the gym window and climbing over chairs. I think the other little boy has two older sisters and was thrilled to have another little boy to play with. It made me realize that Atlas has a pattern of navigating towards older boys to play with. These boys are usually between 4-6 years old. I also realized developmentally it is unusual for an almost two year old to play with other kids. Usually at that age they play around other kids but not directly with other kids. However, Atlas is a younger brother and there was a time when he only knew another older kid to play with, his older brother, Nathaniel. Atlas doesn't talk very much and he was so young when Nathaniel died, but there are times like these, where his behaviors demonstrated that he remembers and maybe misses his older brother. There were other young boys in the lobby, but Atlas was drawn to this little boy. And this little boy loved having Atlas to play with. It was all his mother and I could do to get them to take a break to eat dinner.

We also met Brett's Baltimore family on his grandmother's side. One of his cousins just so happens to work at the hotel where we are staying at! His Baltimore family is a hoot, but very community focussed; they hang out every chance they get. They wanted to cook some crabs for us (you can't come to Baltimore and not have crabs), but we ran out of time.

Baltimore family hanging in the lobby of the hotel.

I am happy to report that we met more locals while touring neighborhoods. There was this young family with a twenty month old boy and a three month old girl. They are in the process of selling their home. They were out on the front stoop talking to neighbors and enjoying the nice weather. They actually gave us a tour of their home, so we were able to get a better feel of actually living in the area. It's like once we left the DMV people are more open and friendly. It confuses Brett when people say hi, how are you to him in passing (he's from the DMV), but I love it. It just feels like a more friendly place. For example, Atlas and I were sitting by the waterfront watching the water taxi and this older man just told us that it is free and he rides it every day. Then while we were taking our free water taxi ride there was a navy guy aboard and he was telling us all about the transport ships that were docked in the harbour. It is just a place that has community.

Atlas playing near the waterfront with Navy transport ships in the background.

The family riding the FREE water taxi.

Some other very unique Baltimore things are the high top highchairs. I walked into this one restaurant which was very much a city restaurant; meaning it looked like a grungy hole in the wall, but is rated very high so you're willing to try it. After looking around I noticed that there were only tall tables and was just about to walk out when the bartender told me that they do have tall highchairs. It seems to be a Baltimore thing as we have seen the same at other restaurants.

Also Baltimore is about their sports. Brett saw an interaction between a young boy wearing a sports shirt and an unrelated older man. The man asked the boy how did their team do today and the boy said that they lost, to which the man replied that they would have better luck next time. True commiseration over sports between complete strangers. We even saw a mailbox shaped like a Baltimore Raven's football helmet. Brett says Baltimore is almost as intense as the south about their college football.

Other things we have noticed while touring the neighborhoods is that the public transportation is definitely not as robust as the DMV. We have been taking more buses. Before taking the bus I was opposed to taking the bus and now I know why. The bus is less frequent and you have to wait outside in the rain, cold and wind. I much prefer the metro.

To make matters worse my baby boy got sick. Since he isn't in daycare, I'm not sure where he picked up this sickness. We did have an especially windy day in Baltimore, or it could be that he put his mouth on the bus window, or that he put a used tissue in his mouth, or ... I think you get the point. He's super congested, but no fever so we are very grateful for that. Also another thing I have noticed about Atlas is that I think he is going to be a basketball player. We were at the park and once Atlas caught sight of the older kids playing basketball he ran straight to the court, stopped and just stared. He definitely wanted to play.

Atlas watching the kids play basketball

We got to visit with Brett's older sister, Leila, and her daughter, Kaia. It was so sweet watching Atlas play with his cousin. It's always a treat to visit with Leila. You can tell that her and Brett are related; they both have a thirst for adventure.

Atlas and his cousin Kaia

Every year Leila makes a family calendar and for 2025 she dedicated May, Nathaniel's birthday month, to Nathaniel. It was so sweet.

Silly faces: Brett, Atlas, Danielle, Leila and Kaia

We are going to be taking a little break from our traditional travel adventures and head down to Wichita Falls, Texas. We have some good friends who are expecting their first child and we wanted to celebrate with them. There is no chance on heaven or earth that we would consider moving to Texas.

Just hanging out in Baltimore before catching a flight to Texas.